


Hello From The Other Side

by agentsimmons



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Feels, Inspired by Music, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Pepper Potts/Happy Hogan, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Science Boyfriends, Tony Angst, Tony Feels, past Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 20:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5063191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>I must have called a thousand times to tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done, but when I call you never seem to be home</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Tony keeps calling Bruce after he disappears. Bruce never answers, but that doesn't mean he's not listening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hello From The Other Side

Bruce heard the distinct sound of a phone somewhere in the Quinjet. He knew he was being petulant. He knew that running like this without any fair warning was a low move. He also knew that he was taking a risk still being in the Quinjet even with the cloaking device in tact. Even more of a risk was looking for the phone.

He finally tracked it down and to his surprise it was his own Starkphone. He hadn't remembered bringing it with him on board, but then again he was always misplacing it. Maybe it had been there for weeks before the battle.

His breath hitched when he saw the missed call was from Tony. Not Natasha, not Steve, not even Fury. Tony. Maybe he should have expected that, but it seemed like his friendship with the billionaire had been unraveling at the seams. 

They both knew why, but they never talked about it. He wanted Tony, Tony had Pepper, Natasha wanted Bruce, and Tony... Bruce shook his head. He wasn't quite sure where Tony stood. The only thing he knew was that Tony was lost in some other world. It was dark there and he had tried to let Bruce in, or more or less dragged him in, only for that world's darkness to spill out over into reality because at the end of the day, together they would only ever be mad scientists and monsters who could effectively destroy the world.

It had all been too much. Not knowing how to deal with the guilt of South Africa. Not knowing how to deal with his entanglement with Natasha and her betrayal when he tried to give over to her that place inside him that had previously belonged to Tony. Not knowing how to deal with his very real feelings for Tony. Not knowing how to deal with the near end of the world.

The team - or maybe he and Tony together - had always been a chemical mixture meant to create chaos and the time bomb had finally almost exploded. He couldn't stay and be a part of that anymore.

So he knew better than to listen to the message that Tony had left him. He knew he should just chuck the phone into the nearby ocean along with his own damn traitorous heart that had no right to feel anything other than remorse and self-loathing.

_I don't know where you are, Bruce. That's not what this is call is about. I just... Hell, I don't even know if you have your phone with you on the jet. Your phone still isn't traceable, never was. So please don't throw it away if you do have it. You may need it wherever you go next. I just want to know you're okay. I won't come and find you if you don't want me to, but I need to know you're okay, Bruce. And I'm sorry. I never should have asked you to help me with Ultron, with Vision. I just didn't know what else to do. You weren't the monster. You never were. That was me and I'm sorry._

Bruce took a deep breath and contemplated his next move.

 

* * * *

 

Tony wandered around the new Avengers facility feeling a little lost. None of this felt right anymore. He couldn't just build a state of the art new playground and expect everyone to get over what he'd nearly caused. Then again, he knew that wasn't the real problem. He was lost without Bruce.

Of course, that was his fault and they both knew it. He wanted Bruce, Bruce had Natasha, Natasha wanted Bruce, and Bruce... Tony ducked his head and sighed. He wasn't quite sure where Bruce really stood. Not now that he had run away. Maybe Bruce hadn't wanted Natasha after all or maybe he had pushed Bruce away by dragging him into his downward spiral and making him an accomplice. Maybe Bruce couldn't face what they had almost done any more than he could.

Maybe Bruce finally knew how dangerous of an influence Tony was. But if only Bruce had seen the vision he had, he was sure the physicist would understand. Tony still felt that in his bones. Tony had seen his entire world fallen at his feet only to survive it alone. He knew it was Bruce's worst nightmare so he had thought if anyone would understand that it would be him.

"Tony," Fury barked his name, breaking him from his mopey daze. The engineer turned and saw Fury motioning for him. He followed the Director until they reached an empty conference room. "We found the Quinjet," Fury said without preamble as soon as they were alone.

Tony's eyes widened. "As in... You found him?"

"No, we found the jet," Fury reiterated. "He was long gone by time we got there. But it's obvious he left us a calling card by disabling the cloaking shields. He was sending a message."

"That he's okay," Tony said, head falling back a little in relief. He wondered if this meant Bruce had gotten his message or if he was letting them all know out of general courtesy.

"Exactly," Fury agreed. "Now we can start our real search for him."

Tony's listless body filled with anger. "Don't. He ran for a reason."

Fury looked at him, slightly stunned. "And here I thought you were more invested in finding him than Agent Romanoff," he said with his one brow raised. Tony blinked. "Please, Stark. You've been in love with Dr. Banner for the past three years. Not my fault you didn't know how to do something about it where Romanoff did," he said with a callous sort of shrug as he turned and Tony scowled at his back.

"You're right. I do love him," Tony admitted. "And that's exactly why I'm going to respect his wishes to run away from this little freak show. He was right about that all along. We're not some impervious team."

"Mm, mm." Fury shook his head mockingly. "Damn, Stark. I gotta admit, when you do fall, you fall hard." He paused. "And stupidly. That impervious team stopped the end of the world in case you missed it."

"Missed it?" Tony seethed. "How the hell could I miss it when I nearly caused it? You know what, fine. You're right. The obvious weak link here is me."

Fury spun around in obvious shock. "You? Mr. You Can't Afford My Sorry Ass is the weak link here? Apparently I need to get Banner back here before you lose your senses completely."

Tony exhaled sharply and fixed Fury with a glare. "Let me be very clear. If I find out you're trying to hunt him down like Ross, I _will_ intervene. Now I've got a plane to catch back to California because like I said, I'm done here. I guess you can go tell Natasha you found her... would-be boyfriend," he spit out and turned on his heel.

"I'm not going to." Tony paused in his tracks and turned half way to look at him in startled confusion. "Don't look at me like I'm some kind of voodoo love doctor. Who Dr. Banner wants to mess around with is none of my business and it's probably a bad idea for him to mess around with anyone at all." Tony glowered at him, but Fury just shrugged. "Technically we haven't found her would-be boyfriend, but Dr. Banner left us a little encoded message when he ditched the jet. He said to tell you that he's okay and that he'll handle Agent Romanoff himself. Probably'll send her a post card."

"I'm sure you'd like that wouldn't you?" Tony narrowed his eyes at the Director. "Give you a place to start looking."

"Your words, not mine," Fury deflected coolly. "So you're really just going to hang up the suit and walk away from this?" Fury raised his hands and looked around. "What are you gonna do, Stark? Go build yourself a farm for you and your imaginary girlfriend?"

Tony smirked. "Maybe I will," he said in challenge and left.

 

* * * *

 

Bruce sighed as the other line rang. It was cowardly, but he hoped that he got a message. He also hoped that Tony wasn't lying about his phone not being traceable.

"Bruce?" Natasha's voice answered and Bruce closed his eyes tight in guilt. "Good to hear from you. I was starting to think you were trying to tell me something," she said with a small, confident laugh.

Even when it was an act, sometimes she was just too damn confident in a way that he knew wasn't right for him. Maybe because he never really could tell when it was an act and when it wasn't. He just couldn't read her the same way he could... He shook his head.

"Look, Natasha..." He started, but let his sentence trail.

"So you were," she said knowingly then. "Look, Bruce, I'm not some love struck teenage girl. Just give it to me straight."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't know. You, you asked me to run away with you. I mean, that's a little juvenile," he said, reaching for humor.

She snorted. "Says the man who ran away."

"Touché. Look, I like you a lot," he tried to be gentle. "And I probably should have figured out where I stood sooner. You're attractive, Natasha. And I'm... I'm not exactly used to that sort of thing. The flirting, the, uh, whatever else. I haven't had that in some time." Not counting Tony, but it was hardly comparable. He was pretty sure anyway. "You took me off guard, but that's not an excuse."

"No, it's not," she said curtly and he tried not to let it irritate him.

"But the thing is we're good friends. We've come a long way since Kolkata and I appreciate that friendship for what it is. I just don't think I'm the man you think I am. And I don't think I could ever be that man." Then he took another deep breath "What I did was wrong, sure. But you had no right, Natasha. You had no damn right. I was trying to let you in. I was trying to give you a chance to prove to me that maybe we could have something, but..." He sighed again. "We don't. And we never will. I'm sorry."

There was a long pause.

"Fine," she finally said. "Maybe you're right. Maybe you're not who I thought you were." He ignored her accusatory tone. He decided she had a right to be upset. "I guess I should have realized you were already too far gone. It's still Stark isn't it?"

He blinked rapidly at the sudden shift in topic and nearly dropped his phone. "Uh... Yeah," he admitted after a pause. "Yeah, it's still Stark."

"You can do better," Natasha said frankly.

"Apparently I can if you were interested," he offered.

"I guess we can't always get what we want," she said with a touch of morbid humor. "But maybe you still have a chance. Hell, maybe I do too." 

"I hope so. I mean about you having a chance. Actually, I'm sure you do. Trust me, I'm pretty easy to get over," he said half-joking and half-serious. "I guess... I guess that's all I had to say. I _am_ sorry."

"You don't know, do you?" Her question took him off guard.

"Know... what?"

"Tony and Pepper finally announced their break up," she said.

Bruce felt his world reel slightly. "What? Break up? And what do you mean finally?"

"Oh, Bruce. Don't ever change."

And with that she hung up and he was left to figure out things for himself. A quick query gave him the answer. Tony and Pepper had called it off months ago, but had kept it secret for business purposes. A few of the reports had even already linked Pepper to Happy. He raised his head from his phone screen and looked around in bewilderment.

 

* * * *

 

Tony tried to forget Bruce once he was sure the physicist was okay, he really did. He went on a few dates that went nowhere at all satisfying. He buried himself in new projects that weren't Iron Man, like advancing FRIDAY and starting on a prototype robot sibling for DUM-E, U and Butterfingers. But it was no use.

He kept thinking about how far Bruce was. He kept thinking about everything they'd shared. He kept thinking about the brilliant physicist with his giant, green rage monster. It had been a few months and it didn't get any easier. Maybe he was being a little ridiculous thinking that his feelings could all just be willed away that quickly. Then again, he had never felt something this deep. His feelings were lodged somewhere in his chest like a replacement for the reactor that used to keep him alive.

But he had promised not to track Bruce down, with the unspoken promise to himself that he would only break it if he found out the man was in danger somehow. He had let Bruce go and wasn't going to betray his trust again. He'd already done that and it still haunted him.

Everything still haunted him.

His nightmares had returned twofold. Not even the wormhole, not even the demons he'd created that had come back to destroy his entire world, could measure up to the nightmares where he could still see the faces of his dead friends. And sometimes it was only Bruce. Only Bruce broken and betrayed. And sometimes he woke with the pounding fear that what he had seen, what Wanda had shown him, wasn't a fear of what could happen but ultimately didn't, rather that it was still an ever looming vision of an end that was yet to come.

He would wake with a start and reach for his phone, desperate to hear Bruce's voice. They'd been through so many nightmares together and it just felt like instinct now to reach out for his reassuring presence. Night after night he ignored that urge until finally he couldn't anymore. Even if he had to leave him a million messages just to hear Bruce's voice asking him to leave one he would.

 

* * * *

 

Bruce was in India again when he received another unexpected call. It was from Tony again, the man having taken to calling him at random, and Bruce ignored it again. He couldn't talk to him.

He had tried a thousand times to call Tony himself, to just be honest with him. But every time he started to hit dial, he put his phone away again. He told himself it was for the best.

He was only fooling himself if he thought Tony's worry about him and incessant calling was more than friendly. He was only fooling himself if he thought Tony's split with Pepper had anything to do with him. Bruce hadn't left behind any broken hearts, not even Natasha's; he was certain of that. Besides, it was laughable. People didn't break Tony's heart; it was resilient.

He had also kept tabs on both Tony and Pepper after their announcement and Tony had been spotted with other people so obviously thinking Tony was somewhere wanting him the way he wanted Tony was ridiculous.

Bruce sighed when the phone indicated a message. He could ignore Tony's calls, but he could never ignore his messages.

_Hey again, Bruce. Hope you're okay. Still not tracking you. Vision dropped by the other day for a visit. Oh right, I'm back in California now. Not doing the whole Avengers thing. Don't think I've mentioned that yet. But Vision dropped by and... It's so weird. Hearing JARVIS and not having JARVIS anymore and... I probably sound like I'm about to have an anxiety attack right now, but I'm not. I'm fine. I just... I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Sometimes I think about salvaging a back up of JARVIS and just rebuilding him here in my own home. Vision's great, but he's not... He's not JARVIS. And FRIDAY's great. I won't get rid of her, but... Whatever. I also finished on that water filtration prototype you and I were working on a while back. I hope you don't mind. I won't do anything with it without your permission of course. It's your design, your baby. I uh... I've also been tinkering on another helper bot. Not sure what to name him. Or her. Not sure. Maybe I should name it Brucey. Would you like that? God, sorry. Here I'm just rambling about myself. But really I do hope you're okay. How have things been? I guess unless you call back this is a pointless question, but it's the thought that counts right? Right._

The message ended there and Bruce closed his eyes, trying to block out how good Tony's voice sounded. It was like a symphony in the middle of his cacophony. His finger hovered over Tony's picture, his urge to call him back chipping away at his resolve. But, no, that way only led to...

Bruce was startled by another call. He wanted to pick it up. He almost did. He was one brush of a finger away from giving in. But he was a fraction of a second too late and so he would have to settle for another message. What Tony had else to say he could only guess. He had probably thought of something else to ramble about. Bruce chuckled and shook his head at the thought. Tony seemed different in his messages, a little melancholic or worn down, but underneath that Bruce was always glad to hear he wasn't entirely changed.

With a soft smile, and heavy heart, he played the new message.

_Damn it, Bruce. I love you. Okay? You've probably figured that out already and I'm just wasting my time telling you, but I do. And I know you're not interested. I get that you don't love me, but damn it you're also one of my best friends. I'm still selfish and self-absorbed and I need you, I want you in my life. I know that I screwed everything up. I know I was an asshole, but can you just talk to me? What happened to long nights in the lab and manly cuddling when the nightmares got to be too bad? What happened to science jokes and all our bantering? Jeez, Bruce. Are we really different people now and can't ever get that back? I know that I got carried away, but I'm fairly certain we could salvage that. I'm fairly certain we could still be friends, buddy. Nobody has ever spoken my language before except JARVIS and I programmed him to speak it so it doesn't count. I'm going to take a chance here because I can't let this go anymore. If Sokovia taught me anything it's that we don't have much time and I can't waste it not doing everything I can to fix what I broke. So here it is. On the line. I'm going to be in Dubai in two weeks. If you're close, great. If not, hopefully two weeks is long enough to get you there or else you can call me and save me the trouble. But two weeks. I'll text you the location once I figure one out, but I really want to see you, Bruce. If you don't show up then I promise I won't bother you again. I won't call. I won't... Well, if I find out Ross or SHIELD is after your ass, I might still interfere. But nothing else. So... Here's to Dubai I guess._

Bruce's hand trembled slightly as the phone fell into his lap. Tony... loved him?

 

* * * *

 

Tony's eyes constantly scanned the park when they weren't busy glancing down at his watch for the time. When he wasn't glancing at his watch, that hand was tapping restlessly on his thigh. His other hand held one of his suitcases, which he still felt was a pretty damn clever play on words and not corny at all. Of course, that was a fleeting thought as he continued to wait for Bruce to show up.

He'd spent two weeks thinking maybe he should just call Bruce back and tell him to forget it, to just move on, that the physicist was probably right to do so. He'd spent two weeks caught in the middle of a war between his ego that said of course Bruce would come and his insecurities that said of course he wouldn't. He'd spent two weeks hoping that he wasn't making a mistake and that if Bruce did come he wouldn't just push him away further or hurt him again. He'd spent two weeks hoping he was right, hoping that they could salvage what they'd had before everything got complicated.

Tony glanced down at his watch again and sighed. It was almost an hour past the time he'd suggested they meet. He looked down at his suit and wondered just how long he was prepared to wait.

"You realize traffic in Dubai is a nightmare for those of us who can't just fly, right?"

Tony spun around quickly with wide eyes to see Bruce. He was all of five foot eight with tanned skin from wherever he'd been staying and beautifully messy hair and a frumpy button up and khaki ensemble and a wry albeit hesitant expression and standing only a few feet away.

Tony crossed those few feet quickly. He set down his suit and grabbed Bruce's hand. He'd been planning this for two weeks, this hopeful attempt at starting over. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you sometimes turn into a giant, green, rage monster."

Bruce opened his mouth slightly in confusion and then closed it for a moment. When he opened it again he said, "Thanks. But I think you forgot lose control-"

"Nope," Tony said quickly and took advantage of Bruce's hand still in his to pull him into a strong embrace. "I didn't. I know exactly what I meant. God, Bruce, I've missed you. I'm sorry," he apologized now that he was hugging the man in person. "I'm just glad you came."

"Look, Tony," Bruce said as they didn't break their embrace, rather just stood there holding each other. Or maybe Tony wasn't about to let go and Bruce understood that and indulged him. "I think we both have things to be sorry about. I'm sorry if you thought... If you thought I didn't want to... Our friendship is important to me, Tony. It always has been. But you're wrong."

Tony pulled away suddenly, holding onto Bruce's shoulders and fixing him with a confused stare. "About...?"

"In your last message. You said I don't love you." Bruce took a deep breath and fixed him with a serious gaze. "You're wrong."

Tony's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place and for a brief second he was torn between cursing himself for not figuring it out sooner and pulling Bruce into a kiss three years in the making. A very brief second. 

Tony surged forward and brushed his lips against Bruce's, but didn't push. If Bruce wanted to pull away, he could. Bruce didn't and soon their lips were tasting each other tenderly as Tony's hands slipped down a little to the sides of Bruce's arms and Bruce grasped at Tony's elbows. They both pulled away and looked each other tentatively before smiling at one another, their eyes just speaking to one another silently for a few moments. 

"We're going to have to figure out this living arrangement," Tony was the first to speak. "Because as it stands you can't stay here while I go back to Malibu."

"Tony..."

"So either you're going to have to come back with me or you're going to have to take me back to whatever hole you're living in right now." Bruce's eyebrows shot up in obvious surprise. "Or, hey, maybe we can just build a farm. That seems to be working out for Barton. The point is, I'm not doing this whole long distance, never knowing if you're going to pick up your phone crap anymore."

Bruce chuckled outright and Tony smiled. "Yep, see, not when you go and do a thing like that," he said and kissed him again, Bruce _mhmphing_ a little before registering Tony's lips and returning the kiss. 

"Well, we're geniuses," Bruce said, eyes still closed as they pulled away but just barely. "I think we can figure something out. By the way, I'm sorry I never answered your calls. I wanted to."

"Well, yeah, that would have been nice." Tony leaned his forehead against Bruce's. "But at least you got my messages."

"I saved them too," Bruce whispered and Tony was certain he hadn't smiled this widely in months.  

**Author's Note:**

> Quick write and unedited so if you see any mistakes please point them out. I've just had a lot of feels, along with the rest of the world apparently, over Adele's _Hello_ all day today and this random fic idea came to me the very first time I listened to it so I put the song on repeat and here's what the end result is. Obviously only loosely inspired as the song is more angsty than what the end result of this fic is and the plot isn't really the same as the song.


End file.
